No matter where you sit on the Venn diagram of sports fan, parent or both, it's difficult to not have some type of reaction when you see "Friday Night Tykes."

The Esquire TV Network show, which is set in the rookie division of the Texas Youth Football Association (TYFA) in San Antonio, follows 8- and 9-year-old football players.

Everyone will have their own moment in the trailer alone that will stick with you, for better or worse. (Mine comes at the 1:20 mark when a coach tells a kid to "put it in his helmet.")

But just like any movie or TV show, "Friday Night Tykes" is much deeper than the trailer. Not every parent or coach you meet in the first two episodes is unhinged.

The coaches you meet span a sliding scale of sanity. From the adults who seemingly need adults supervising them to coaches who seem to be intense, but respectful, it's clear that the young athletes of TYFA are experiencing youth football that is unlike almost anywhere in America.

"TYFA, they're not shy about saying they consider themselves to be the most competitive youth football league in America," executive producer Matt Maranz told Sporting News. "It's a badge of honor to them. That's their marketing pitch that we will have the toughest competition and the most intense environment and most competitive environment, intentionally and gladly."

And the aim of the show, according to Maranz, is not to pass judgment on the environment at TYFA, but rather raise the question of whether this type of intensity at a young age is a good thing for children.

"In our quest to make the best 8- and 9-year-old athletes in America, are we going to burn these kids out so they stop playing at 14?" Maranz said. "If that's the case, what was the point?

"Sports is a wonderful extracurricular. It's one of many wonderful extracurricular activities available to kids. But when you start playing sports at this level you don't have time for anything else."

Maranz isn't new to sports, working with 441 productions, a group that has been involved with numerous sports projects, but despite his previous experience, "Friday Night Tykes" exposed him to a level of intensity at the 8- and 9-year-old level he'd never seen.

"I've never seen it with 8- and 9-year-old kids," Maranz said. "The intensity, the mental toughness, the physical toughness that they're trying to teach. I've seen that in college and professional environments."

And speaking of the NFL, the series trailer drew a healthy dose of criticism from former Saints player LeCharles Bentley:

While it would be easy paint all of the coaches with that broad of a brush, Maranz did not question the motives of even the most overzealous coaches, saying that none of the coaches were waking up each day, thinking about abusing players, but rather how to make their players better.

But even if the motives are pure, the almost unchecked zeal—one thing you'll note in the first two episodes: no parents stepping in to stop anything—at least one coach seems incapable of pausing his quest to make a player tougher, even when the child is obviously not physically well.

The most troubling elements of the first two episodes—and a teaser for the third—come when the health of a child is seemingly at risk. While some handle it appropriately, others react in a way you wouldn't expect with a teenager, let alone someone who is 8 or 9.

There's also a question of whether the cameras following these TYFA teams only feed the Vince Lombardi complex some of these coaches have. And while the cameras might influence the behavior of the people you'll see on the show, Maranz made an important point: "This is what they were doing before we showed up at TYFA, and this is what they're going to be doing after with TYFA. We're just kind of the mirror to what was happening and will continue to happen."

And that's why the thesis from Waiting For Next Year is probably the most accurate assessment of this show: We need this extreme of youth sports to be exposed so a larger group can critically view it and decide what the best path is for the next generation.